Siobhan Abdirahman is a third-year student at the university and a regular at #GreHacks and #GreStartUp. A successful writer outside of her studies, Siobhan is a dynamic and hard-working entrepreneur developing her latest venture The Buddy App. At this year's Enterprise Challenge, she won our Social Category and £2000 to help develop her business. Since then she's been taking her business to the next level by sourcing developers and applying for further funding. We caught up with her on her journey so far and her key takeaways from her Enterprise Challenge experience.
Tell us about you and your business.
My name is Siobhan, I am currently moving into my third year of studying Business Entrepreneurship and Innovation, BA Hons. During an afternoon of scrolling on social media I came across a video of a young woman making her way home after a late night and filming herself being followed and talking as if she was on a FaceTime call and it made me think what if she hadn’t made it home safe and was able to post it no one would ever have known she’d been followed and after mulling over some ideas ‘Buddy App’ was born.
‘Buddy App’ is a safety app that aims to bolster peoples safety when travelling alone by finding a buddy for them to walk with, albeit virtually, the main goal of this app is not only for people to feel safer and build community but also collect evidence to get them justice in case the worst should happen.
What was your experience of the Enterprise Challenge?
The whole experience of the Enterprise Challenge was amazing, from the six weeks of workshops, where we were taught real business skills from real business owners, consultants with decades of experience within the industry and given advice on how to build our business from something that is theoretical to something that is successful, to joining forces with my mentor who was there for me every single step of the way.
My fantastic mentor who not only believed in my idea and the impact it could make on the world but also me as a person, this propelled my confidence into something extraordinary, and within the six weeks I took my business idea from this fictional thought to a viable business model, by building my financial plans and doing a business layout to really narrowing down who my customer is, what I’m building and why.
All of these moments were remarkable, but I have to say my favourite moment of all was sitting in the front row at the final and hearing ‘Buddy App’ announced as the Social Category Winner topped it all and made all of the hard work over the past five months completely worth it.
What was your biggest lesson?
I think I learned a lot of lessons over the whole process of the Enterprise Challenge, but the biggest one of all is to strip an idea back, don’t be afraid to take this huge idea and turn it into something tiny so you can slowly build up and realise your why. Your why as a business owner is so important and if you lose sight of that you end up losing sight of the project as a whole, stripping back my idea made me realise exactly who I was doing this for and why and holding onto that reason and building my idea around that in the best way for the people I want to benefit has allowed me to develop my business idea into something that is going to be remarkable.
What have you achieved since the Enterprise Challenge Finals?
Since the Enterprise Challenge, I have formed a large focus group of 50 potential future users to narrow down the best features of the app. Just recently I found an amazing web designer and app developer to start an initial beta build for our focus group to start testing within the next six months. I have also been approached by potential investors and am on my way to securing grant funding.
What advice would you give to other students taking part in the Enterprise Challenge?
My biggest piece of advice for other students taking part in the Enterprise Challenge is to just do it, enjoy the experience, have fun and most of all take hold of every opportunity you are given. Every chance at mentorship, every chance at a piece of advice or for someone to have a look over what you’ve done take it, if you are a little bit unsure or inexperienced no question is a bad question when it comes to building a business and the Enterprise Challenge is the best environment to hash out all of those small hiccups to ensure the best foundation for your business.
How did your mentor help you during the process?
My mentor Ghislaine was amazing, she believed in me and my idea from our very first meeting she had confidence I was the right person to lead this project but also that I had the skill to do so. I have to thank the Generator team for matching us together because they really did pick the perfect person to help me during this process, normally mentors are only supposed to meet with their mentees three times during the process but Ghislaine gave up her time each week to connect with me. She talked me through the progress I’ve made, the goals that I had and to also take the time to build connections for me with other people with experience in similar industries to ensure I had the best advice at all times.
Even two days before the final she was slowly talking me through my pitch practice, which even she knew word for word by the day! Her unending support assured me that ‘Buddy App’ was worthy to be on the stage and that I was the best person to lead it.
How did you work with your mentor to get the most out of the experience?
When working with my mentor making weekly goals was always the best way to ensure my progress was on par with the workshops each week, thankfully my mentor was able to give a lot of their time to work with me and advise me on the best ways to ensure that my plans were clear and concise. Also, when I was unsure on a topic or needed input from someone with more experience and it wasn’t something that she had the experience in she went out of her way to connect me with people who had the answers I needed, these connections have become invaluable I had a deeper understanding of what it would mean to build my idea into a fully functioning business.
By working so closely with my mentor I was not only able to build my own confidence in the industry that I’m building my business in, but also to build connections with other people who have built businesses in this area. This advice gave me the best steps to take and build my knowledge further, particularly in software developments that will elevate my business practices. It also enabled me to put the skills I learned during the six weeks of workshops with the Enterprise Challenge into physical practice giving me crucial hands-on experience in a short space of time.
